[BOOK REVIEW] Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss

 

Title:  Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Author: Dr. Seuss


Genre: Humor / Drama / Self-Esteem / Animal



Year Published: 1990



Year Read: 2011

Publisher: Random House

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+ (Some Scary Imagery)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Dr. Seuss is clearly the true essence of children’s books as he writes about life in a playful and lyrical way that children can easily understand.  Well, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is definitely no exception as it is about believing in yourself as you go out into the world.  “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is easily a book that every child should read whenever he or she are in a slump!

Basically, this book is about taking charge of your own life facing difficulties in your life such as loneliness, fear, and confusion, with a straight face and taking on life ahead of you in a lyrical prose that children will easily appreciate!

Oh my goodness!  There are so many things that I loved about this book that it would take me all day to list them!  For one thing, Dr. Seuss’ writing is clearly more memorable in this book as he tells children who are on their way to facing life ahead of them on their own to have positive attitudes and face their fears head on!  I just loved the way that Dr. Seuss showed the upside and downside attributes of life all in a lyrical prose as the writing was truly creative and inspirational.  I never would have thought that I would find a book about the tough trials of life that is so well-written and whenever I read this book, I think about the hardships I had to endure during my life, but then I realize that life always has its ups and downs and only you can decide what to make of your life, which is what Dr. Seuss has shown in this book.  Probably my favorite verse in this book was this line:

“I’m afraid that some times,
You’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win,
‘cause you’ll play against you.”

This was a truly powerful verse for me because it is saying that there will be times where you can succeed, but sometimes when you do not believe in yourself, you end up losing the game or not succeeding at all.  Dr. Seuss’ illustrations are just as creative and surreal in this book as the main character is a young boy who wears a yellow jumpsuit and a yellow hat.  The world that surrounds the boy is extremely surreal as the hills and the grounds are in multicolored stripes and the creatures that the boy meets along the way are also bizarre, especially of the image of the boy meeting a huge green monster that has black stripes on its body and short yellow bushy tail.

All in all, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is easily one of Dr. Seuss’ best works ever created and it should be read to any child who graduates from school!  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.